Mutambara believed Zimbabwe could be the Singapore of Africa

Arthur Mutambara told United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell that Zimbabwe should dream of becoming the Singapore of Africa because of its rich land and human capital.

He said this soon after taking over the leadership of the pro-senate faction of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Mutambara said in today’s global economy no country could develop economically without foreign assistance and investment.

He said President Robert Mugabe’s form of economic nationalism was a thing of the past.

Zimbabwe needed to re-engage the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for assistance on reforms.

Mutambara who said his faction was the legitimate MDC said there were three options to resolve the MDC divide.

The most preferable outcome, in his opinion, was reunification. However, if that was not possible, he favoured an amicable divorce in which both sides shared party assets and adopted new party names.

If neither of these options worked, Mutambara was prepared to go to court and let the ZANU-controlled judiciary determine the fate of the opposition parties.

Mutambara told Dell that he was “rebranding” the pro-senate faction in an effort to learn from past mistakes in which the party had “played into ZANU-PF hands”.

He said that Mugabe’s sole remaining sources of legitimacy domestically and internationally were his liberation war credentials, stance on land reform, and anti-imperialist rhetoric. Mutambara said his party needed to undercut these pillars and reclaim these themes from Mugabe.

Post Pagination

Like it? Share with your friends!

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.